3370

Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co. Telegrams (6) 1868-1877 [167568]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Paper Start Price:10.00 USD Estimated At:150.00 - 250.00 USD
Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co. Telegrams (6)  1868-1877  [167568]
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Lot of 6 telegrams sent 1868-77. Includes a message received at Gold Hill, Nevada in code (likely about selling mining stock). Others: San Francisco, Sacramento, Chicago, and Ann Arbor (pictorial). The Maine Legislature chartered this company in 1854. They sought to build a telegraph system extending from the East Coast to the West Coast. In 1869 Atlantic & Pacific leased telegraph lines from the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad, in exchange for shares of stock. The UP attempted to retake control of the lines in order to lease them to the American Union Telegraph Company. In 1880, the A&P obtained a court injunction to prevent the UP action. Through several complex transactions, which included patent negotiations with inventor Thomas Edison, financier Jay Gould acquired sufficient shares of A&P stock to obtain control of the company by 1875. Gould's takeover was contested in litigation; meanwhile, Gould initiated a rate war with competing telegraph companies, most notably Western Union, the largest company in the industry. By 1878, Gould had sold the A&P to Western Union at a handsome profit. California